


Peeping Kat

by Evilicing



Category: Gravity Rush
Genre: Eavesdropping, Gen, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 03:37:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10913520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilicing/pseuds/Evilicing
Summary: Kat decides to confront Syd about the unsettling noises she hears coming from the bird coop, and ends up wishing she hadn’t. [pre-GR2.]





	Peeping Kat

Today had been a complete disaster, although it was nothing compared to the events that happened later on.

Though I was growing quite accustomed to feeling like this, like I didn't belong, nothing compared to the pain of being ripped away from Hekseville so unexpectedly. The Chief of the Banga settlement, Lisa, had taken us in and given us shelter, but I hardly felt like a welcomed guest. Things had gone from unfortunate to downright hopeless in the past few days. The people here were so hardworking... how did they do it? It was almost impossible for Syd and me to ever keep up with them.

"Now get out of here and get some rest… you're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Instead of motivating me, Lisa's harshness only made me feel that much more hopeless. Sometimes I felt like a prisoner when I worked for Lisa, and although she seemed to be somewhat warming up to me, I still knew that Lisa would never see me as anything other than an outsider, and she would never believe that I could, in fact, shift gravity or defeat Nevi… or do anything useful at all, it seemed.

If only Dusty were here…

Exhausted, I made my way to the bird coop in hopes of getting some rest in. To be honest, I hadn't been sleeping very well. Granted, it wasn't my first choice of accommodations, but it was all I was given for now.

Syd and I had been sharing the small hut since we'd arrived—with the ducks, of course—and although I was happy Syd was here with me, I also couldn't help but feel annoyed that even at a time like this when I needed him most, Syd was nowhere to be found. He'd already made quick friends with the other people here—particularly the women—and had used whatever excuses he could to get out of helping me today with Lisa's instruction.

I felt so lost. I wanted to go back home, to Hekseville, I wanted to find Dusty and get my powers back, I wanted to—

On the verge of tears, I quickly stopped at the door to the coop when I heard voices and an odd commotion coming from within. Was someone else in there with Syd? I was definitely able to pick out one of the voices as his, which was not unexpected since he was living here, too, but the other voice was so soft that it was a bit harder to pinpoint.

_"Mr. Syd, are you sure we should be… doing this?"_

The voice was so timid and delicate, suddenly familiar to me as the voice of Lisa's daughter Cecie. Cecie had always been nice to us since we'd arrived, but I didn't know what business she and Syd could possibly have in the bird coop together. I knew I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I was curious more than anything. Careful to listen further, I pressed my ear to the door.

 _"Relax,"_ —it was Syd this time _—"I know what I'm doing. You're in good hands."_

Now _that_ sounded fishy, especially coming from Syd. I knew him well enough to know that whenever he said something like that, it was usually best to run in the opposite direction. I stepped back slightly. What could they possibly be doing in there…? I blinked away any ideas I might have, deciding to listen further for more information instead of clouding my brain with mindless assumptions.

 _"I-I'm sorry, I just… I've never done anything like this before—_ ooh _! That… that tickles."_

Wait, what?

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. Was that a _giggle_  I just heard? Now I was _really_ suspicious of what was going on in there, and I didn't like the mental images my mind was conjuring up. There's no way it could be what I was thinking, _no way_ Syd and Cecie were…!

I quickly ran to the back of the hut where the window was… of course the curtains were pulled shut. Well, so much for that idea.

I could at least still hear their voices. I tuned into them easily, both hesitant and curious to find out the truth of this suspicious meeting…

_"—be still for me, I promise I'll make this quick.. Hmm… just have to find the right angle—"_

The right angle for _what_?!

_"—put your hands here and I'll tell you what I want you to do. Yeah, like that. Perfect."_

_"Wow, I… um, had no idea you were so good at this sort of thing."_

...Neither did I, Cecie, neither did I.

_"Heh, I've always been good with my hands. I think you're going to be really impressed by the time I'm finished."_

This whole thing was starting to creep me out bad. There was only one explanation for whatever was going on in there, one that I didn't want to admit; how was it even possible a sweet, innocent girl like Cecie could get roped into anything Syd asked of her, let alone… this?!

Even for Syd, this was terribly uncharacteristic. I knew he had an eye for somehow attracting female attention on occasion—not to mention lots of trouble and dangerous situations that usually involved me saving him—but this was just ridiculous. No matter how smooth Syd might pretend to be, I knew him well enough to know that he would never do something as bold as this. Not the Syd _I_  knew. A bit of harmless flirting and some showing off, maybe. But ... this?! Cecie had to be even younger than I was, and even though Syd could be a bit odd at times, he would never stoop this low. He would never take advantage of any girl like this. At least... that's what I wanted to think.

I heard lots of shuffling coming from inside the coop, muffling out the voices a little, but the sounds I heard weren't making their case any better. Something with lots of repetitive movement was going on in there. I felt a hot blush forming over my cheeks… I wanted to bust in and stop them, but there's no way I could just waltz in there now!

Syd's voice suddenly sounded a bit strained, and I had to push my ear really close to the window to make out exactly what he said next. _"Ngh, this is a little more complicated than I'd expected. Keep a firm grip on it, okay? Oh, and give it a good twist right here if you don't mind. I'm going to try a different position."_

_"Okay… um… that's going to be a really tight fit…"_

I had to practically slap my hand over my mouth; I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Was this the proof I needed…? I honestly wasn't sure firsthand about how this kind of thing worked, but… come on, what else could they be talking about? They sure weren't talking about anything _Lisa_ would approve of, that much I knew! Maybe if I just kept listening… even though I knew I shouldn't…

_"Like this…? I don't want to hurt you…"_

_"Don't worry about it, I'm going to try and play some more with it. You're doing great."_

I could hear Cecie begin to stutter. _"O-Oh, well… I… um… I'm happy to help anytime. Especially f-for you. Although…"_ She hesitated, and I was almost afraid the continuing sound of whatever scandalous cacophony was going on in there would block out the rest of what she had to say. _"—know Lisa would be really upset if she knew we were doing this…"_

 _"Hey, we're not doing anything wrong."_ Syd's voice was surprisingly confident, and I could feel my stomach twisting with anticipation, my pulse quickening. _"This… is really all I'm good at. Maybe one day I could convince Lisa, too…"_

_"I don't think she would understand…"_

No, I quickly agreed, she really, really _wouldn't_ understand. If Syd tried to put the moves on Lisa, she'd kill him for sure…! Did he even have the guts for that? And besides, Lisa was… Cecie's mom. This was wrong on so many levels, even for Syd!

I felt like my face was on fire now, and I was starting to get angry, too. This whole thing was just going way too far. How dare Syd take advantage of poor Cecie like this! And in the same room where I slept too?! I knew I had to do something and fast, before the entire foundation of this bird coop was forever defiled.

 _"It'll be our secret, then."_ Syd's usual nonchalant tone felt strangely out of place, but made me stop dead in my tracks. _"Oh, and remember, don't tell Kat about this either. She'd probably kill me, and I'm not ready to tell her about—"_

That was it. That was the last straw that broke my back, and I was going to bust in there and let Syd have a piece of my mind. Not only was he slacking off too much, but apparently keeping secrets from me, too? _And_ acting like a complete womanizing jerk when we had much bigger problems to worry about? This was no time to be getting so friendly with the Chief's daughter; not that there was really _ever_ an appropriate time to be getting friendly with the Chief's daughter, but did he not even _care_ about our first priority of finding Dusty and getting back to Hekseville?! He was the only person I knew in this place, how could he possibly be doing this to me?

Looking back, I knew he had always looked out for me, ever since the beginning—though it didn't always work out the way we'd hoped, I couldn't deny that we made a good team sometimes. I trusted him, and lately I had no choice but to rely on him.

No more listening. It was time for _action_ now. For the sake of Cecie's virtue, and for the bird coop…!

I took a deep breath as I prepared to kick through the door, not quite sure I was prepared to face whatever I was about to see…

"Here goes…!" I convinced myself.

With a swift kick, the door to the coop flew open with a thundering crash. I wasn't sure who was more startled by my intrusion, the ducks, Cecie or Syd… well, maybe Syd, because he immediately let out a yelp and dropped some heavy piece of equipment, that—if Cecie hadn't dodged—would've knocked her out like a light.

I was right. I  _definitely_ wasn't prepared for this. In fact, it… wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Well… at least they were fully clothed.

"K-Kat?! Oh great, look what you made me do!" Syd panicked.

"Kat...!" Cecie sounded completely terrified.

Had I made a mistake...?

"Wh-what exactly is going on here…?!" I shouted, trying to put together what I was seeing.

Cecie was wearing bits and pieces of what looked like a deconstructed gravity suit… wait, was that my suit?! Syd, on the other hand, was standing over her holding various tools that looked like was doing said deconstruction.

On top of that, the larger piece of equipment Syd had dropped that looked very important had just crashed onto the floor when I busted in, and was currently smoking with fumes.

"Not good! I've got to fix this quick before it blows! Both of you, get out of here!"

Trembling, Cecie ran over to me. The door wasn't far, but I was so confused that I almost felt glued to the floor as I watched Syd scramble frantically for more tools. "Wait, what?!"

" _Go_!" he commanded, and without further hesitation, Cecie and I managed to run out just in time before a small "boom" sounded from behind us.

It had all happened so fast, and as Cecie and I exchanged clueless looks between each other, neither of us was particularly eager to face the unavoidable rage of Lisa…

I would never, ever forget that traumatic day, no matter how much I tried to forget about it...

* * *

 

 

"Kat… I'm… so hungry."

Syd had collapsed onto the floor so unceremoniously that even the ducks knew to keep their distance. Syd and I were miserable; Lisa had really let us have it this time. We'd tried our best to avoid getting Cecie into trouble, but she had quickly told Lisa she was helping us out before we could even tell her Cecie had no part in what happened to the equipment.

She had tried to help us out of this mess, but…

"Don't complain to me, this was all your fault for meddling with our gear," I said with a sigh, followed by an uncomfortable rumble in my belly. "I still can't believe you! We're already outsiders here, and we're lucky Lisa didn't kick us out instead of just starving us like this."

"I wish she would have, my stomach is practically eating itself." Syd rolled over to face me. We couldn't help but exchange pitiful looks. "And hey, it's your fault I even dropped the equipment in the first place… why exactly did you come barging in like that for?! I thought you were a Nevi attack or something."

I bit my lip in annoyance. I really didn't want to think about _that_ right now. After all, I still felt pretty ashamed for thinking that Syd and Cecie were…

"That's…!" I hesitated, looking away from him before my guilty expression gave me away.

"Wait, are you _blushing_?" Syd teased, moving closer to get a better look at me.

"N-No, I'm not blushing! I'm just…mad!"

"Look, I was just trying to make the grav-suits they gave us pack a little more punch, that's why I was taking them apart." He knew he had my attention now. His disappointed smile suddenly turned more devious. "I thought if I could make them even better, we'd be able to mine faster and longer than anyone else… which meant we'd have more food."

I sighed loudly, though it did little to express the full extent of my disappointment. "And now we have _no_ food at all… ugh…"

"Well, I wasn't able to salvage the piece I'd made before having to chuck it out the window before it exploded on me, but I did, um, kind of make a big promise to Lisa that I'd fix these things before our next assignment." Pleadingly, Syd looked to me... a look I knew too well. "Since I don't have Cecie anymore, I could really use another pair of hands if we hope to have these fixed up before tomorrow. Care to be my new assistant, Kat?"

"N-No way!" I stammered, memories from earlier flooding back into my mind. I was so embarrassed I could hardly even look at Syd right now, there's no way I could help him with _that_ after what had happened…!

"Kat? Wait, Kat! Where are you going? Hey, get back here! Don't leave me here…!"

And I never looked back.

**Author's Note:**

> After I beat GR2, I went back and played the beginning again because I remembered Kat and Syd arguing about Syd breaking their gear... yeah, my mind took that to the extreme for sure. I also thought about how Kat had made this exact same mistake on a side mission for Aki. But I love imagining these two in awkward situations, so this cliche old thing was born. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!


End file.
